The current invention relates to portable cooling and heating devices and specifically to a combined thermoelectric cooler and bottle warmer and methods thereof.
In the specification and claims which follow hereinbelow, the terms “mother”, “father”, and/or “parent”, when used in conjunction with feeding a baby and or making preparations to do so, are intended to be used interchangeably to mean any caretaker for a baby—and not necessarily the baby's mother and/or father.
Mothers that breast feed typically store breast milk in the freezer or in the refrigerator for later use. When it comes time to feeding the baby, a mother typically warms up the chilled/frozen milk to about 40 degrees C. for it to be a comfortable temperature for the baby to drink. Feeding in middle of the night can be a hassle for a parent to go to the fridge, prepare the bottle, and then place the bottle in a bottle warmer. Some people keep a mini fridge in the nursery to store milk, making it easier to put the milk in the bottle and then into the bottle warmer without needing to go to the kitchen.
However, such a solution takes space and could nonetheless be inconvenient in the home. Traveling presents a bigger challenge to both provide prolonged cooling and convenient bottle warming. A number of prior art address the problem, as indicated hereinbelow.
“The First Years Night Cravings Bottle Warmer & Cooler” by Tomy®, Oak Brook, Ill. 60523, U.S.A., Y1058/Y6158 1309277, whose disclosure is incorporated by reference, provides a solution having an electric cord to power the bottle warmer from a house outlet. The device requires an ice pack that must be refilled/replaced relatively frequently. There are several manufacturers that make similar bottle warmers and coolers.
“Elite Baby” Bottle Cooler and Warmer, Model EB-BX02, by Foshan Shunde Jingai Living Electric Appliances Co. Ltd, China, whose disclosure is incorporated by reference, has a device which houses one bottle, allowing one “shift” control to switch cooling to warming, warming milk at 40 degrees C. and cooling milk to 9 degrees C.
In US Patent application publication no. 2008178605, whose disclosure is incorporated by reference, Wesley et al. describe a portable compact refrigerator especially designed for infant milk bottle, pacifies, baby food jars and the like. The refrigerator houses a bottle and food warmer that has an LCD indicator for both the bottle and jar warmer, a safety lock, a start button and a timer. The refrigerator has a main compartment and a door attached to the main compartment. The door houses a medicine cabinet with a roll up cover that sounds an alarm when opened. The roll up cover has a lock that can be either a key lock, cyber lock, or combination. The shelves on the door hold pacifiers, baby food jars and baby bottles. The door creates an air-tight seal when closed. Wheels attached to the bottom of the refrigerator allow for the portability of the compact refrigerator.
Zorn, in PCT publication no. WO2004106109, whose disclosure is incorporated by reference, describes a thermoelectric combination device, in particular an armrest cool box for motor cars. Said device comprises a thermoelectric container with a thermoelectric chamber for housing and insulating foodstuffs, substances and/or objects that are to be kept cold or hot and a sealable opening for accessing the thermoelectric chamber. The device also comprises a beverage-container holder, which is configured in the thermoelectric chamber to hold at least one container, in particular a beverage container, and an active thermoelectric device for the selective cooling and/or heating of the container or containers.
In U.S. Pat. No. 2,853,205, whose disclosure is incorporated by reference, Boyd describes a bottle and food warmer and cold storage device t make infant or invalid feeding and food storage convenient and compact and quick when a kitchen is inconvenient to get to or unavailable. The device has an insulated cold storage compartment, adapted to hold and cold store filled nursing bottles or other food and food containers for at least 12 hours within a safe temperature range and with a warming well adapted to head a nursing bottle or other food and food containers.
Pieronczyk et al. describe, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,305,833, whose disclosure is incorporated by reference, a cooling and warming apparatus which includes a housing having a top side with a number of open receptacles for receiving perishable items. Thermally-conductive bases are attached to the bottom of the receptacles. Thermoelectric elements are provided in thermal communication with the thermally-conductive bases. A heat sink having heat-dissipating fins is provided in thermal communication with at least one of the thermoelectric elements. A fan draws air into the housing, through the heat-dissipating fins of the heat sink, and out of the housing. A temperature controller controls the operation of one of the plurality of thermoelectric elements.
In Japan Patent publication no. JPH0791799, whose disclosure is incorporated by reference, Kenzo et al. describe an aluminum vessel provided as a container inside a lower case in a body, partitioned by a vessel partition unit to form vessel chambers, and a heat exchanger is disposed in a bottom of the vessel. The unit is formed with a plurality of communicating long holes and slidably mounted with a slide plate having communicating long holes at a slide groove. When the plate is moved, the chamber communicates with the chamber in response to the movement. The exchanger is disposed at the bottom of the vessel, and formed of a heat dissipating fin, a thermal conductor, and a Peltier element interposed to be held between the fin and the conductor.
Many, if not all of the prior art employ devices, having the same thermoelectric chip for both heating and cooling, have three major limitations:                1. using the same chip for heating and cooling shortens the device and thermoelectric chip life due to thermal cycling between hot and cold conditions;        2. the housing of many of the devices is not suitable nor sufficiently stable for vehicle transport and the devices and/or bottles could fall over easily;        3. in devices using the same thermoelectric chip, there is room only for one bottle, meaning, that the user must choose between either a cooling or a heating function, and using both functions at the same time is not possible.        
There is therefore a need for a lightweight, portable, combined-but-separately functional, refrigerator/cooler and bottle warmer that may be used in the home and on the go (such as in vehicles), having a stable and reliable configuration.